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Clevah Gerhl…3D Dinosaurs Are Cool…

Twenty years ago, my sister and I took our mother to see the film Jurassic Park. It was playing at one of the first “stadium” seating theaters near where we lived. I remember that we were impressed with the size of the screen and how loud the surround sound was. But what I remember most of all was how upset the movie made Mom. Given the fact that two decades have passed, you get no spoiler alert. When the T-Rex is stomping the jeep into the mud and the children are screaming….Mom lost it! She was crying, just horrifed. Back then, those special effects were like nothing anyone had ever seen. The dinosaurs may as well have been real rather than cinema magic. We almost removed her from the theater, thinking she was having a heart attack.

Now, all these years later, I happen to be in town visiting Mom, who now lives with my sister. Mom has Alzheimer’s Disease and lately, she’s been having a tough time. Jurassic Park was re-released in 3D/RealD. So, this morning, we met up with my cousin and her kids, and we all went to see JP3D. One of the silver linings of AD…all that was old is new again. Mom knows that she has seen this movie (probably dozens of times) but didn’t entirely recall anything about it. “Hold on to your butts!”

A lot has changed in twenty years. We saw the film in IMAX 3D. It was awesome! You felt like the screen enveloped you, as though you were really there. I’m not a fan of 3D, especially on re-touches, but this (like Titanic in 2012) was worth every penny! “…spared no expense.” It was 3x as big, and 10x as loud. And Mom LOVED it. There aren’t very many good aspects to AD, but being able to share this experience with her, through new eyes…again…I’ll be forever grateful.

Okay…my favorite scernes with the 3D experience?

Introduction of the T-Rex. “Where’s the goat?” When the T-Rex busts through the roof of the jeep, there is a shot from the T-Rex’s perspective looking down at the kids, who are holding the roof up with their hands and feet as they scream. It then switches, to the kids’ perspective and you are looking at the face of a chomping T-Rex coming RIGHT AT YOU.

“They’re uh…they’re flocking this way.” The herd of Gallimimus that runs through them while evading the T-Rex. So cool.

“Clever girl.” When we realize that the three Velociraptors are free and on the hunt. It’s game on from that moment forward!

“They’re inside.” When Lex and Tim are trapped in the kitchen with two of the Velociraptors. It doesn’t get any better than this. 3D Raptors are the bomb!

So, if you get the opportunity, you really need to go see Jurassic Park 3D. As Hammond said, repeatedly, they “spared no expense.”